Armchair therapy cart



April 27, 1954 Filed July 1, 1952 E. A. MILLER E-I'AL ARMCHAIR THERAPYCART 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INvEN-rops,

ELWOOD A. MLLEP, 32 BENJAMIN V KLAIN,

Mam

HFORNEY p 7 1954 E. A. MILLER E'AL 2,676,643

ARMCHAIR THERAPY CART Filed July 1, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INvENToRs,ELWOOD A. MLLEP, BENJAMIN. V KLA/N,

April 27, 1954 E. A. MILLER ETAL ARMCHAIR THERAPY CART 3 Sheets-Sheet 3Filed July 1., 1952 Patented Apr. 27, 1954 UNITED STATES FATENT OFFICEARMCHAIE THERAPY CART Application July 1, 1952, Serial No. 296,584

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a cart of substantially the same height as thetop side of the customary hospital bed whereby a patient may be readilytransferred from the bed to the cart, and then the cart, at will, may betransformed into a Wheel chair by easy manipulation of a single lever,the wheel chair being adjustable in respect to the height of the seatand the inclination of the back.

The invention involves a structure which is extremely rigid when in thecart condition, and likewise is sturdy and free of any twisting actionin any of the chair conditions. In the cart condition, there is a bedsurface formed, the top side of which is in a common plane without anyinterruptions thereacross. In either the cart or chair position, thestructure is extremely stable and is mounted on wheels for easy movementfrom place to place.

Medical authorities are now insisting upon patients having certain heartconditions to be up out of bed in a chair particularly, and yet theseauthorities are urging that a minimum amount of exertion be had ingetting the patients into chairs and back from the chairs into bed forthe prone position. This invention is particularly adapted for use bysuch persons, although its use is not limited thereto.

To those versed in the art, many advantages of the invention will becomeapparent in the following description of one particular form of theinvention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. lis a view in side elevation and partial section of a structure embodyingthe invention shown in the chair condition;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view of the same structure in side elevation shifted to thecart condition;

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the structure in the cart condition; and

Fig. 5 is a View in rear elevation of the structure in the chaircondition.

A foundation frame structure is formed to consist of the parallel foreand aft rails to and H; the spaced apart, vertically disposed posts i2and i3 on the right hand side interconnected by a horizontally disposedtop rail I4 and spaced apart vertical posts l5 and [6 on the left handside rising from the rail ll, interconnected by a top horizontallydisposed rail 11. The side rails It and H extend rearwardly from theupright posts 92 and I5 a distance to be-interconnected by their rearend portions by the cross rail 58. Near the junctions of the cross railI8 with the lower rails 80 and II there are mounted the caster wheels isand 29. Preferably braces 2| and 22 are employed to extend diagonallyupwardly from near the rear end portions of the side rails l0 and H tothe rear upright posts I2 and I5.

The lower side rails l0 and H extend forwardly beyond the front posts 13and I6 and carry hand operated carriage wheels 23 and 24. These wheels23 and 24 are preferably mounted upon a common horizontal axis at rightangles to the rails i5] and H.

A back section generally designated by the numeral 25 is formed to haveside rails 26 and 21 carried in parallel relation, and rockably pivotedintermediate the ends of those respective rails 25 and 2'? with rear endportions of the top rails i4 and ii. The bolts 28 and 29 constitute thepivot means in the present disclosure.

A foot board support generally designated by the numeral 3! has outerside rails 32 and 33 which are respectively hinged by their upper rearend portions to the forward ends of the top rails M and I 7. These siderails 32 and 33 are pivoted to the rails 14 and I! by means of the bolts36 and 35. This board support 3| has the side rails 32 and 33interconnected by a lower transverse member 36 and two intermediatecross members 3'! and 38.

A seat frame generall designated by the numeral 39 has parallel sidemembers 43 and M each respectively connected by its rear ends with thelower ends of the back side rails 25 and 27. This interconnectionbetween those respective rails is through a rod 42 passing through aspacer tube so. The side members 4% and 4! are interconnected by framemembers 4 5 at the front, and at the rear, Fig. 4. 1

The forward ends of these side rails or members 40 and M are rockablyinterconnected with the foot support member side rails 32 and 33, bymeans of a through rod 46. The location of the rod 42 in reference tothe pivot bolts 28 and 25! is at a distance therefrom equal to thedistance between the bolts 34, 35 and the rod 46 as measured along therespective rails 32 and 33. That is, the rails 30 and d! are at alltimes parallel to the top rails M and H.

There are provided a pair of spaced apart rails 48 and d9: secured tothe back side of the frame 25 to extend downwardly therealong and belowthe pivot rod 42, Fig. 1, to have a lower end portion turnedsubstantially perpendicularly backwardly therefrom designated by thenumerals 5t and 5! respectively, from the rearends of which there areturned downwardly the legs '52 and 53 respectively in parallel relationto the members 48 and 49. Then there are provided two pairs of spacedapart plates 54, 55 and 56, bridging across the cross members 3'? and38. Tie rods 58 and 59 pivotally interconnect lower ends of the legs 52and 53 to extend therefrom forwardly to be pivotally interconnectedrespectively by their forward ends between the plates 54, 55 and theplates 56, 5?. The locations of the ends of these tie rods 58 and 59 aremade to be such that the rods themselves are maintained in parallelrelations with the seat frame side members ts and Al.

A bracket 60 is carried in fixed position centrally between the frameside rails It and H, such as upon the intermediate rails SI and 62. Ahydraulic cylinder 53 is rockably mounted on this bracket Bil to extendforwardly and upwardly to interconnect through a bracket M with theforward end portion of the seat frame 38. The bracket '64 is hereinshownas being mounted on the front cross rail "45 of this member 35. Thecylinder 63 ispreferably-of the double acting type, and isinterconnected with a fluid supply hose-65 which in turn connects with ahydraulic pump and reservoir 66 which may be selectively mounted andattached to either the right or left hand side of the-device. The upperspaces between the vertical posts l2 and It on the one side and I5 andIf; on the other side is preferably filled in by a plate '61 in eachinstance. There is mounted on this plate 6'! to extend outwardlytherefrom a shelf '68 on the right hand side and 65* on the left handside. On each of these shelves is respectively fixed U-shaped springclips H and i2 respectively within which the unit 56 may be yieldinglyreceived and retained. The unit fit has an operating handle i3 directedupwardly and forwardly herein shown as being positioned alongside therail 54, Fig. 2.

By suitable up and down rocking of the lever iii, the unit 66 isactuated to force fluid therefrom under pressure through the line 65 tothe cylinder 63 so as to cause the piston rod ends I l and 15, Fig. 3,to extend therefrom, and tend to push the forward endof the seat member35 upwardly. This upward travel can be had only by causing the backmember 25 to rock about its pivot bolts 28 and 29 which will lower theupper end of that member 25 and lift the lower end, and simultaneouslyrock forwardly and upwardly the foot board support member 3|, to bringeventually all of the members into the cart position as indicated inFigs. 3 and 4, where the back member 25, the seat member 39, and the legsupport member'SI are in straight line positions with their top sides insubstantially a common plane, this plane being horizontally disposed.The vari- 0115 members, 25, 29, and 31, can be brought to any desiredintermediate positions depending upon the degree of manipulation of thehandle "it, and those members will remain stationary as those selectedpositions may be determined. In other words, the device may be shiftedfrom the chair condition as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 5 to the cartcondition as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 simply by manipulation of the leveri3. To return the various members from the cart position to the chairposition, the valve control member iii may be manipulated to release thepressure in the line 65 so that the various members will tendto-return'to their positions under the influence of gravity, that is tothe chair position. The under structure embodying the frame members H!andli and .theposts l2, l3 and it, It are so of preventing confusion inthe illustration of the various parts and their interconnection.

The foot board support 3! has hinged there-- over a pair of foot boards36 and ii, these boards lfian'd ll being hinged on the rod which, asabove described, constitutes the pivot rod on which the member 3! itselfis hinged to the forward ends of the side members 32 and These footboards l5 and ll are spaced along the rod ddby-a'central tubular spacerThe lower ends of these foot boards l5 and carry the usual step boardsl9 and ti! which may be adjustable from thepositions shown in solidlines, Fig. l, to positions shown by the dash lines substantially in acommon plane with the boards iii and ll. The exact means forinterengaging the step boards "is and 8% with the foot or leg boards "i6and ii is of standard construction, well known to those versed in theart, and therefore is not herein described.

Thesefoot or leg boards 56 and ill may be eleby rocking thernabout thepivot rod 46 in relation to the member 3 l and held in the rockedpositions by means of the arcuate rack bars a which are fixed to therear sides of the s respectively to extend through a plate 83 when isfixed onthe'forward sides of the cross fraine members 37 and 38, Fig. 2.The teeth 8 of the rack bar in each instance interengage with the marginof the holes 85 and 8E through which the bars extend.

The seat 39 is provided with a hole 88 therethrcugh, through which apan89 may raised and lowered. This pan-89 is supported upon a platform inturn supported by diametrically :aced apart vertically attached postsiii and as which pass through a sprin 93 in each instance carried byvertically-disposed channel irons ed and 95. These channel irons 8d and95 are tied together at their lower ends by a cross bar $6. The upperends of the channel bars at and are attached to brackets 9i and 93 inturn secured to the underside of the seat'til.

By means of that structure the framework consisting of the channels 9 1,Q5, 96 and brackets fi'l 93 are carried with the seat 39 as it may beraised and lowered in respect to the cart and chair positions of thevarious elements above described.

The raising andlowering of the pan $39 is accomplished by means ofoperating a rearwardly directed lever 99 which is pivoted centrally ofthe cross bar 95 and carries an arm its to form with the lever 99 abellcrank. From the outer end of the arm Hi9 there is a second leverliii pivotally connected thereto, by one end, and by its other endpivotally connected to a bracket i 32 attached to the underside of theplatform 9i By rocking the lever 99 upwardly to the position. shown inthe dash lines, Fig. l, the pan 89 may be elevated to some such positionas indicated by the dash lines abovethe seat 39. The pan d9 may bemaintained in the'elevated position by any suitable latching means,herein shown as by means of the hook I03 engaging the releasable latchH14 carried on the underside of the platform 90. By rocking the lever 99downwardly, upon releasing the latch I04, the platform 90 is loweredagainst the springs 93 to permit the pan 89 to be removed from the underside of the seat 39, preferably from the rear side thereof.

Thus it is to be seen that we have provided a simplified structure whichmay be employed not only as a cart onto which patients may be readilyplaced from the usual bed, but may be then manipulated very readilywithout exertion to any appreciable extent by the patient into a chairformation. Then the reverse is true that the patient may be shiftedwhile on the chair into the entirely recumbent position as on the cartform, from which the patient may be readily transferred from the bed atthe same level.

Therefore while we have described the invention in the one particularform, it is obvious that structural changes may be employed withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention, particularly in themechanical design of the supporting framework and the like, and wetherefore do not desire to be limited to that precise form beyond thelimitations which may be imposed by the followin claim.

We claim:

A combined wheel chair and cart comprising a foundation structure havinga pair of fixed, uppermost horizontally disposed side rails; a backframe having side rails; said back frame rails at points intermediate attheir upper and lower ends being directly pivoted to the rear ends ofsaid foundation rails; a foot board support frame having side rails, theupper ends of which rails are directly pivoted to the front ends of saidfoundation rails to hang downwardly therefrom;

a seat frame having side rails; the rear ends of which rails aredirectly pivoted to the lower ends of said back frame rails, and thefront ends of which seat rails are directly pivoted to said foot boardsupport frame rails below said foundation rails; said seat andfoundation rails being parallel to each other, and the lengths betweenpivot points thereon being the same; a pair of members extendingdownwardly from the lower end of said back frame rails with front facesin approximately the plane of the back side of the back frame; a pair oftie rods pivotally connected by rear ends with lower end portions ofsaid members and pivotally interconnected by their forward ends to saidfoot board support frame to be in parallel relation with said seat framerails;

and a hydraulic cylinder motor connected by a lower end to a forwardportion of said foundation structure below said seat frame and inclinedforwardly and upwardly to connect by its upper end with a forward endportion of said seat frame, rockably shifting and holding said back,seat, and foot support frames between chair and cart, and intermediateposition, the axis of said motor being forwardly inclined in all of saidpositions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 679,636 Parmelee July 30, 1901' 2,375,151 Troxell May 1, 19452,442,303 Mayfield May 25, 1948 2,540,133 Miller Feb. 6, 1951 2,587,068Sanders Feb. 26, 1952 2,592,025 Gray Apr. 8, 1952 2,614,267 Perri Oct.21, 1952

